Bengaluru: Upset over officials of the State Government seeking a higher commission than before for clearing bills, the Karnataka State Contractors Association (KSCA) on Monday said it will lodge a complaint with top Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, if corruption in the Siddaramaiah Government is not addressed.

KSCA President R. Manjunath, who met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at Bengaluru yesterday, said that Contractors are facing more harassment now than they did when the BJP was in power.

“We told the CM that we are prepared to go to Kharge and Rahul Gandhi. We will also  go to the Governor,” he said.

Maintaining that the commission problem still exists, he alleged that officials are creating problems in releasing Bills. It is more than what it was in the previous Government, he added.

During the meeting with CM Siddaramaiah, the KSCA is said to have sought urgent release of Bills totalling Rs.15,000 crore.

Noting that there are pending bills worth Rs.32,000 crore, the CM promised us that Rs.15,000 crore will be released in April, Manjunath said adding that bills have been pending for over 3 years now.

CM Siddaramaiah, however, said he has not promised anything concrete. “They asked for immediate release of Rs.15,000 crore in April, to which I said that can’t be done. However, we will release whatever is possible,” the CM said adding that dues will be cleared based on the State’s financial position.

Blaming the Contractors for contributing to the pendency of Bills when the BJP was in power, Siddaramaiah contended that the pendency was due to works that were taken up without adequate budgetary allocations during the BJP rule.

On KSCA wanting to approach Kharge and Rahul, a defiant Siddaramaiah said, ‘Let them lodge complaints with whom and wherever they want.’

The KSCA’s allegation could turn the tables on the Congress party, which stormed to power in 2023 with a blistering campaign against the previous BJP Government over corruption, especially the 40 percent commission allegation levelled then by the KSCA. In July 2021, the KSCA had also written to PM Modi about the cuts the Contractors had to pay to receive work payments, which the Congress capitalised on in the run up to the 2023 Assembly polls.